Furthering Northernlight’s criticism, the numbers are looking surprisingly predictable based on earlier estimates: Antibody data estimated Spring first-wave actual infections at approx. 4-times lab confirmed cases. Here we are in the second wave at 4-times Spring first-wave lab confirmed cases...

It'll probably turn out okay but I'm actually concerned about our government's emphasis on making the vaccine voluntary and the slow vaccine roll-out especially globally. It's the only cultural status quo option so I understand; However, worse pathogens than covid-19 may arise in the future and...

The first vaccinations reported in the media is a great feel good story. I guess we should savor that for a moment. As throughout this pandemic however I think it paints a false narrative to the public. 2021 will be a grind. I would wager you will be more likely to contract covid-19 in 2021...

Northern light, your right to call me out on broad generalizations I’m good with that; However, I was not the one who pushed the discussion to be personal. I described my personal experience and made an insensitive generalization based on insufficient facts. Admiral, countered that he had...

Of general interest I was thinking about the news of Elon Musk and Oracle decamping California for Texas. Personally, the pandemic has taught me that a lot of things in business are-the-way-they-are because of inertia. That’s as true of the largest companies as it is for us as individuals. I...

Germany is pushing into 5 x first wave peak now. If my Canada -> Germany proxy theory holds Canada in a number of weeks will push past 10,000 cases per day. Ontario will be at about 2500 cases a day depending on the volume of testing.

Northern Light, Listen, we actually generally share a lot of the same interests on this forum and have many mutually beneficial exchanges here. Do I sometimes post judgmental or insensitive comments or chose my words poorly? Sure, I'm not going to deny that; However, I find myself wondering...

You're probably not going to get much traction with that here Admiral; however, I agree with the general thesis. It's the same here but just, in typical Toronto fashion, in more moderation and with the geographic reality that it's too cold here to live outside for much of the year. You should...

Good eye on this article. I was going to post it in a rental rate thread but couldn’t find it right away. A lot of tenants are getting squeezed in a vice between this global institutional capital and, ironically the measures tenant advocates are proposing and getting implemented to help...

Travel is not a large source of covid-19 cases overall but it is the origin of all covid-19 cases. My point is Canada’s covid-19 experience has never had anything to do with a zero case strategy. 2021 will be defined by how we live with covid-19 not a return to low-case numbers. That is why I...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-melbourne-welcomes-first-international-flight-in-five-months-as/ Interesting to give a perspective of how different the Canadian and Australian pandemic experience is. According to the article Melbourne was seeing its first international flight in...

Things are not getting better; however, the increase in cases is partly being driven by increases in testing, now approaching 60,000 tests a day in Ontario. The rough antibody study showed actual cases in the spring first wave could have been about 4-times peak so this second-wave is probably...

Germany does seem to be holding at about 4 times first-wave peak in Cases. The prairie provinces are a bit of a wild card because they are in such bad shape at the moment; however, this still looks instructive to estimate the crest of the second wave in Canada and Ontario. Roughly 8000 cases...

The other thing I like to do as I learn more is set benchmark goals. For instance I’m an incrementalist so I like to set timelines to increase the single transaction amount I’m comfortable making. I also set a rough annual return expectation and total asset value goal. These are internal...

Some of these taxes, fees, credits make perfect logical sense in isolation as a closed loop. The vacant home tax is an example. The issue is that taken as a whole they plug into an absurd system. New program -> new compliance costs -> new problems -> new special case solutions to new problems...

I support a vacant home tax in theory but I don't actually support the philosophical zeitgeist underpinning these kinds of taxes. It seems as if government has spent a lot of time proliferating specialized taxes, fees, and targeted credits in order to make sure (at least it seems) that people...

Decentralized pandemic decision-making doesn't work. It just doesn't work.

Another thing I notice is people talk about investments like they talk about lottery or casino gambling. Talking about "picks" etc. There's nothing wrong with talking about picks but it blinds people to the whole process of investing. The reason we are probably talking about this now is that...

Moving into December I feel Ontario doesn’t have a credible plan for the holiday season. Quebec seems to have created something more realistic. Ontario actually has a low rate of infection per 100,000 by other provincial standards but it’s too high so I hope numbers dip a bit because they will...

^I've mentioned it in other threads but I love Tokyo's central ring transit system architecture (the system architecture not the building architecture). Toronto is not a Tokyo sized city but other small cities like Vienna also achieve a kind of ring-system on a smaller scale.